Surgical Robotics Technology
- First Zeta-navigated TMS treatments have begun at HOPE Therapeutics clinics in West Palm Beach and Sarasota, Florida, marking the transition from research deployment to active patient care
- AI-powered, sub-millimetric image guidance is now being applied in HOPE’s outpatient TMS workflows for patients with Major Depressive Disorder and other CNS conditions
- Milestone advances HOPE’s interventional psychiatry platform and aligns with NRx’s planned trial of NRX-101 in combination with robotic-enabled TMS in civilian and military treatment facilities (the SPARC-TMS trial).
NRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has announced that its subsidiary, HOPE Therapeutics, Inc., has treated its first patients using Zeta Surgical’s FDA-cleared Zeta TMS Navigation System. HOPE has installed Zeta TMS Navigation Systems at its clinics in West Palm Beach and Sarasota, Florida, with Zeta-navigated patient treatments now underway at both locations.
The first treatments mark HOPE’s transition from system deployment to active patient care, bringing AI-powered, sub-millimetric image guidance into routine outpatient TMS workflows for patients with Major Depressive Disorder and other neurological conditions. The Zeta TMS Navigation System uses proprietary RealTrack™ technology to provide real-time, markerless image guidance for TMS procedures, applying artificial intelligence and computer vision to register a patient’s MRI or CT imaging to their facial anatomy in under two minutes and to continuously track the position of the TMS coil relative to the planned brain target with sub-millimetric accuracy.
“Treating our first patients with the Zeta TMS Navigation System moves the integrated treatment model we are building at HOPE from concept to clinical reality,” said Jonathan Javitt, MD, MPH, Chairman and CEO of NRx Pharmaceuticals and HOPE Therapeutics. “Bringing neurosurgical-grade targeting precision into the outpatient setting is exactly the kind of capability that distinguishes the HOPE network, and it directly supports our planned trial of NRX-101 in combination with robotic-enabled TMS in patients with depression and suicidality. Our goal has always been to deliver measurable remission to patients who have run out of options, and precision-guided TMS is a meaningful step toward that goal.”
TMS is a non-invasive therapy used primarily for treatment-resistant depression, which affects approximately one-third of patients with major depressive disorder. It is also used in other neuropsychiatric conditions, including obsessive-compulsive disorder and other disorders involving brain circuit dysfunction. Because TMS is intended to modulate specific brain regions and neural circuits, accurate and repeatable targeting of patient-specific treatment sites is an important component of treatment delivery, which is the gap the Zeta system is designed to address.
The deployment complements HOPE’s broader interventional psychiatry platform, which includes ketamine and Spravato® delivery, TMS, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, and other neuroplastic therapies offered across the HOPE network of clinics. It also aligns with NRx’s previously announced clinical trial program of NRX-101 (oral D-cycloserine/lurasidone) in combination with robotic-enabled TMS for patients with depression and suicidality, which is planned to be conducted across a leading US academic teaching hospital, three HOPE Therapeutics clinics, and two military treatment facilities.
Source: NRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
